When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. She discovers that the Oankali – a seemingly benevolent alien race — intervened in the fate of the humanity hundreds of years ago, saving everyone who survived a nuclear war from a dying, ruined Earth and then putting them into a deep sleep. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth — but salvation comes at a price. You can also check out this title as eBook on Hoopla and as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.

After escaping enslavement Gilda finds chosen family with “those who share the blood.” We see her grow and mature into her new life over the course of several centuries. This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Overdrive/Libby and as eBook on Hoopla.

Cobi Winslow is a gay, educated social climber; Eric Reed, his twin brother, is a career criminal. Separated as children, they reunite 30 years later. A former cellmate of Eric’s concocts a scheme to secure a loan from Cobi and he will get his money whether or not Cobi agrees to cooperate. Meanwhile, Cobi needs to come up with some cash to fund his campaign for city council – but in order to inherit his father’s estate, he needs to marry a woman. Threatened to be forced apart yet again, the brothers are tested at every turn in this taut drama, told from both points of view. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Hoopla and as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.

Irene Redfield is living an affluent, enviable life with her husband and children in the thriving African American enclave of Harlem in the 1920s. That is, until she runs into her childhood friend, Clare Kendry. Since they last saw each other, Clare, who is similarly light-skinned, has been “passing” for a white woman, married to a racist man who does not know about his wife’s real identity. Irene is both fascinated and repulsed by Clare’s dangerous secret, and in turn, Clare yearns for Irene’s sense of ease and security with her Black identity and community. As the two women grow close, Clare begins to insert herself and her deception into every part of Irene’s stable existence, and their complex reunion sets off a chain of events that dynamically alters both women forever. You can also check out this title as eBook on Hoopla and as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.

A woman contemplates her Congolese traditions during a family wedding, a teenage girl looks for happiness inside a pack of cigarettes, a mother reconnects with her daughter through their shared interest in fish, and a young woman decides to shave her head in the waiting room of an abortion clinic. These punchy, sharply observed stories blur the lines between longing and choosing, exploring the narrator’s experience as an involuntary one. Tinged with pathos and humor, they interrogate the moments in which femininity, womanness, and identity are not only questioned but also imposed. You can also check out this title as eAudio on Hoopla and as eBook on Hoopla.

DeShawn lives a high, creative, and promiscuous life in San Francisco. But when he’s called back to his cramped Southern hometown for his uncle’s funeral, he’s hit by flashbacks of handsome, doomed neighbors and sweltering Sunday services. Amidst prickly reminders of his childhood, DeShawn ponders family, church, and the men in his life, prompting the question: Who deserves love? A raw, funny, and uninhibited stumble down memory lane, Purnell’s debut novel explores how one man’s early sexual and artistic escapades grow into a life. You can also check out this title as eBook on Hoopla.

Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie. You can also check out this title as eBook on Hoopla, as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.

Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She’s used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot—if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war.

This title is also available for checkout as an eBook and eAudio on Libby and as an eAudio on Hoopla.